How to Brew a Love Potion
by Cranberry Cocktail
Summary: Sirius gets an idea and runs with it. Can he fix this confusing mess, before hearts and arms are broken? Ch.6 Sirius can't read latin and explanations are in limited supply.
1. A Love Potion

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. So please don't sue me.

**A/N:** I wrote this starting chapter a while ago. I thought it would be an interesting twist on the whole Lily/James relationship. I like this first chapter, and I hope all of you enjoy it as well.

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>**Chapter One**

_"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't loose it."  
_ --**Robin Williams**

"You know what, Sirius?" James yelled, throwing his hands up in fury. His face was red from the cold chilly air. He silently cursed himself for leaving his cloak up in his dormitory. But that was a whole different matter completely. Right now, James was really mad.

"What?" Sirius countered, the anger quite apparent. This only made James' temper increase.

"I….you…we're…I'm not talking to you anymore!" James was so infuriated that he couldn't even string together a proper sentence.

"Fine then, don't." Sirius crossed his arms and stared at James defiantly.

James snorted. "Oh, go brew a love potion!"

With a final glare at Sirius, James turned around and started off towards the castle, grumbling the entire way.

Sirius sighed and kicked the trunk of a nearby tree. He cursed himself as a searing pain shot through his foot. "Go brew a love potion…" Sirius mimicked at James' retreating back. "I'll give you a love potion!" Sirius picked up a rock and threw it in James' direction. It fell quite a few hundred feet short.

Sirius bent down to retrieve another rock. He tossed it up and down a few times, before an idea hit him. He began to argue quietly with himself.

"If I do it…it'll be tricky…he'd skin me alive! But…oh, it's so worth it! To see his face!" Sirius threw the rock behind his back. He had no idea that he'd hit a bird. Sirius was too busy figuring the final details to his complicated plan. With a final glance at James' tiny outline entering the castle, Sirius knew that he mustn't waste any time. If this was going to go as planned he'd need to collect some things. He'd have to do a bit of research.

He'd give James one hell of a love potion all right.

* * *

After his fight with Sirius, James decided to cool off by wandering around the Hogwart's corridors. He trudged along at a slow pace, just every once and awhile glancing up to look at one of the many moving portraits. He sighed as he thought back to his blow out with Sirius. If he was to be honest, James wasn't even that mad about Sirius going out with his ex-girlfriend Ivy. If Lily Evans hadn't riled him up at dinner, he might have been happy for his mate. Instead, when Sirius told him, he freaked out and started yelling about a whole bunch of nonsense.

He didn't even think that Ivy was that good looking. She was kind of pompous and a little loopy. If it had been up to James and not the sorting hat, he would have placed Ivy in Slytherin. He was still trying to figure out what the sorting hat had been thinking. Ivy was nothing compared to Lily. James slapped himself in the forehead. Enough about Lily, he lectured himself. How did he always end up talking about her? Why did she just pop up? James was really considering enrollment at St. Mungo's. They had a ward for crazy and deranged people. James certainly fit the bill.

All of James' thoughts stopped abruptly when he ran into something hard. He'd walked right into a wall. Just thinking about Lily was enough to make him do the weirdest things. James didn't appear to be hurt, so with a sigh, he started off down the corridor again. He hadn't even realized that he'd walked right up to the picture of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked, while picking at a spot on her dress.

"Armadillo Bile." James said quietly.

"Right you are, dear!" The Fat Lady swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room. James entered slowly. He looked around and noticed that most of the chairs and couches and been occupied. He spotted Remus Lupin sitting at one of the tables tucked away in the corner. He approached him slowly and sat down with a 'thump'. Remus looked up over the top of his book.

"Hello, Prongs." Remus marked the page in his book and set it down on the table. "What can I do for you?"

James just stared. "You could banish Evans to Antarctica." James stated hopefully. Remus snorted.

"I don't think so. Nice try though." Remus looked over James' shoulder to one of the chairs in front of the fire. There sat Lily Evans, the girl that caused James to completely loose his mind. "I don't think Lily is that bad, James."

James' mouth opened in shock. "How could you say that Remus? She's been completely horrible to me since we were eleven. I've given up any hope. I'm just paying her back for all the years that I wasn't horrible to her." James crossed his arms and frowned. "We're seventeen Moony! Honestly! As long as she treats me the way she does, I'll be just as foul!"

At that moment, Sirius entered the common room. He looked around frantically, as if searching for something really important. He seemed to have spotted it, when his eyes landed on Remus sitting in the corner. To his horror, James was also seated at the table. Sirius frowned, and decided that he could talk to Remus later. Instead, he made his way up to the seventh year's dormitory. He had a bit of reading to do.

James frowned at Sirius as he made his way up the stairs. He had really messed up. It wasn't Sirius he was angry with…it was himself. No…it was Lily. She seemed to be the start to all of James's problems lately. Remus brought James back to reality.

"James?" Remus waved a hand frantically in front of James' face. James blinked rapidly.

"Huh…what?"

"Earth to Prongs! You need to snap out of it." Remus picked up his book again.

"Maybe I should just go up to bed."

"That's a good idea."

James sighed and got up slowly from the table. He casually glanced over at Lily. She was sitting with her best friend, a 7th year, Michelle McCartney. James has a theory that Sirius fancies Michelle. Sirius would never admit to it, but he could tell. James made his way over to the boy's staircase. He climbed the stairs slowly, occasionally glancing back at Lily. He reached his dorm and opened the door cautiously.

* * *

Sirius was in a bit of a bind. He hadn't realized just how complicated love potions really were. It hadn't taken him long to find one that fit his purposes. The ingredients wouldn't be entirely difficult and the potion would brew fairly quickly. He just needed to find the perfect location. As Sirius thought some more, and jotted down a few notes, he heard the door to the dormitory open.

He peeked around and saw James standing there. Sirius groaned and closed the hangings around his bed. After a moment he heard a mattress creak, and knew that James had sat on his bed. He heard the shuffle of hangings being closed. James had gone to bed. Either that, or he's too pissed off to deal with anyone. Sirius would bet all of his galleons on the pissed off option. With a sigh, Sirius moved his things under his bed and settled down under the covers. He would have to be up early in the morning.

James wanted a love potion after all….

_

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I know you're probably sick of hearing this, but please review!_


	2. A Partnership

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Please don't sue.**

**A/N:** I know it's been like forever. But I'm trying. Here's the second chapter. I hope it meets your standards!

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_"Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness."_

_-Cullen Hightower_

**>Chapter 2**

Sirius mumbled quietly to himself as he counted out the correct amount of spider legs. He'd gotten up in the middle of the night, broken in to the potion supply cabinet, and was now currently counting out the ingredients he would need. He'd taken the Marauder's Map with him, to insure that he wasn't caught. He just needed a little bit of dragon liver, and then his list would be complete. But as Sirius reached into the back of the cabinet for it, he heard a noise from behind him. He turned around sharply, his hand automatically going to his wand in his pocket. Sirius gave a muffled yelp as someone appeared out of thin air.

"Remus?"

"Sirius, what are you doing?" Remus folded James' invisibility cloak, and pinned it under his arm. He walked up to Sirius and stared him in the eye. Sirius instantly took a step back.

"Moony, my old friend. What can I do for you?" Sirius nervously ran a hand through his hair.

Remus glared. "Well, for starters, you can tell me why you're stealing potion ingredients, in the middle of the night."

Sirius stuttered.

"I mean if you're going to pull off a prank or something, the least you can do is include the rest of us." Remus picked a ball of lint off of his pajama top.

Sirius did a double take. "W-What?"

Remus peered into the bag containing the ingredients Sirius had collected. "What do you plan on doing? Are you going to brew a love potion or something?" He snorted and started to laugh loudly.

Sirius shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Well….er….actually, yes. I was planning on brewing a love potion. I want to use it on James and Lily."

Remus stopped laughing. "Are you serious? James will murder you if he finds out. Not to mention Lily will have your head as well!"

Sirius smirked. "I know. Brilliant, isn't it?"

* * *

"Michelle?" Lily called loudly. There was no answer. "Michelle?" 

Michelle popped her head out from inside the curtains on her four-poster bed. "Lily, you know I hate that name. It's way too….old. It's not me."

Lily rolled her eyes and approached her friend. "Ellie?"

"Much better, my darling." Ellie climbed out from behind her curtains, and rubbed her eyes. Her tall, tan figure looming over Lily's small, pale one.

"So, what did you want?" Ellie ambled over to her trunk and started rummaging trough it. She pulled out a pair of wrinkled robes and smelled them. She shrugged her shoulders and tossed them on her bed.

Lily sighed. "Please tell me you aren't going to wear those?" She pointed to the robes and crinkled her nose in disgust.

"Relax Lily. They smell descent."

"We're going to be late for breakfast if you don't get a move on!" Lily smoothed out the front of her robes self-consciously. She turned towards the mirror on the wall and double- checked her reflection. Her red hair seemed to be staying somewhat straight. She adjusted the crooked "Head Girl" badge pinned to her robes. With a sigh she turned towards Ellie.

"Are you ready yet?"

Ellie hopped around on one foot as she tried to put her shoe on.

Lily grinned. "You're hopeless."

* * *

Sirius had spent half of the night trying to convince Remus that his plan would work. He explained that James did technically tell him to brew a love potion, and that technically James couldn't get mad. After quite a bit of arguing Remus agreed, although reluctantly, to help Sirius brew the potion. They both agreed to start as soon as possible. Since Sirius had collected everything they needed, they just had to find a place to brew it in. This had caused quite a problem actually. Sirius and Remus were still discussing possible locations as they sat down to breakfast in the Great Hall. 

"No, no, no!" Sirius said quietly, as he buttered himself some toast. "It's too risky to use a secret passage. What if James were to use it one day, and come across it?"

"Very true," Remus muttered as he loaded his plate with eggs. "What about the Forbidden Forest?"

Sirius was about to answer when he caught sight of James entering the hall. He shushed Remus quietly, and began a random conversation about the weather.

"So, I hear it's supposed to be warm today." Remus rolled his eyes.

James walked up, and took a seat next to Sirius. Sirius had stopped his fork halfway up to his mouth out of shock. Surely James couldn't be over this by now?

"Look mate, I'm sorry about yesterday. Evans just really had me going, and I blew up at you for no reason." James said this all very quickly as though it were no big deal, and then turned his attention towards the food laid out before him. "Smashing, I'm starved."

Sirius returned his fork to his plate and looked at Remus. Remus gave him a "we're going to talk about this later" look and returned back to his plate.

* * *

Sirius paced up and down the corridor, his hands shoved in his pockets. Remus would be arriving shortly to discuss their plan. Sirius looked up and stopped walking as he heard footsteps approaching. He sighed in relief as he saw that it was Remus. 

"What do you think?" Sirius asked quickly.

"Well, I think we should do it. Just because James made up with you, doesn't mean we can't still do it. You've already collected everything. Besides, I think this is what Lily and James need to push them in the right direction." Said Remus in a rush.

Sirius stared at him dumbfounded. "Really? You still want to do this?"

Remus grinned. "Definitely. I even found the perfect place to brew this potion in. We won't be disturbed, and there's plenty of space. It's the safest place I can think of."

"And, where is this exactly?"

"Follow me. We're actually quite close. I passed it on the way here." Remus led Sirius down the corridor and around a corner. Halfway up the corridor he stopped, and turned to face a door. "Here we are!"

"Remus, we are currently standing outside the girl's loo. What are we doing here?"

"This is where we're going to work." Remus replied. He pushed the door open and entered the room. Sirius paused outside the doorway, and checked that nobody was in the hall. He entered the bathroom quickly and shut the door.

He noticed that Remus had walked over to one of the cubicles. He appeared to be holding a conversation with someone. Sirius crept over quietly, hoping to make his presence unknown. He peered over Remus' shoulder and grinned.

Remus looked around at Sirius and laughed. "Sirius, I believe you know Moaning Myrtle."

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_You know the drill. Please review!_


	3. A Plan

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Don't sue. Easy as that.**

**A/N:** Wow. I really like this chapter. I think it went pretty good. Enjoy!

**>Chapter 3**

_"Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a clear question."_

**--Albert Camus**

* * *

Sirius shoved Remus across the corridor and into a suit of armor. Remus laughed and dusted himself off, as he continued down the hall. They had just been down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where they had begun to brew the potion. It'd take about three days, which when it came to potions, was awfully quick. Just as they rounded the corner, they spotted two figures furiously kissing. Sirius snuck a glance at Remus and saw that his face had paled slightly and he wore a blank expression. It could only mean one thing—Caitlyn Finney.

Cait and her bulky, Quidditch playing, Ravenclaw boyfriend Owen Weston, were making out right next to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Remus abruptly stopped walking and attempted to look anywhere but at the two people in front of him. Sirius grabbed him by his robes and dragged him up to the portrait. Cait and Owen continued on as if they had no idea anyone was anywhere near them. This only seemed to make Remus more uncomfortable. Sirius spoke the password, dragged Remus through the entrance, and sat him in a chair by the fire. Remus had fancied Cait since second year. It didn't help that she was always dating Quidditch players. Remus' lanky figure could never compete with the toned athletes that Cait seemed to reel in. It really was unfair.

"Hey! What's up?" Ellie had come up behind Sirius and was peering down at Remus. "He saw Cait, didn't he? The least she could do is find a bloody broom closet for her and her boyfriend to snog in. I passed them on the way in. They were practically in each other's pants!" She sighed and sat down in the armchair next to Remus.

Sirius laughed and looked down towards Remus. The color seemed to be returning to his face. "Yeah. But you'd think he'd be over it by now. Cait's just an average looking girl." Sirius turned towards Ellie and smiled charmingly. "But you on the other hand, are exquisite!"

Ellie smiled right back. "You're not so bad yourself."

Remus sighed and stood up suddenly. "I've got work to do. Night Ellie, Sirius." He nodded to each of them in turn and made his way up the boy's staircase. Just at that moment the portrait swung open to reveal Cait. She quickly adjusted her robes, as she made her way over to Ellie and Sirius. She flopped down in Remus' vacant chair and rubbed a hand over her eyes.

"You okay, Cait?" Ellie asked as she looked over at her friend's slumped form.

But Cait's answer was drowned out as yelling erupted from the portrait hole.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU'RE HEAD BOY!" Lily yelled, her hands swinging around for emphasis. "YOU ARE SO IMMATURE!" With a mangled cry of fury she walked quickly up to the girl's dormitories. James simply smiled, and made his way over to the group congregated by the fire.

"James, what did you do now?" Ellie asked as she stood up. "Now I have to go and try to calm her down!" With a smile towards Sirius and a glare towards James, she made her way after Lily.

Cait sighed loudly. "I might was well go and help her. Ellie might need help in restraining Lily. Night, guys." She got up and headed up the girl's staircase.

"Drama, drama, drama!" Sirius muttered as he sat down in an armchair.

James laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "I think Lily's starting to like me!"

Sirius snorted and looked at James. "Not a chance, my friend. I unlike you, have made progress!"

"With who? Ellie?"

"Duh!"

"Sirius, that girl will flirt with anyone. Trust me, you're nothing special."

"At least Ellie and I have civil conversations."

"Lily and I….uh…have a special relationship." James smirked.

Sirius stared. "You count yelling and harmful threats, special?"

* * *

"Lils, you shouldn't let that evil boy get to you! He only provokes you, because he knows you'll get upset." Ellie said with a sigh. She was sitting on her bed flipping through one of Lily's muggle magazines.

"She's right, Lily. You need to relax and ignore him. That's the safest way to go. Besides, this is our last year. You wont have to deal with him again!" Cait and Lily were sitting on Lily's bed.

"But it's only October!" Lily said through gritted teeth.

Ellie looked over at Cait and shrugged. "She's got a point you know."

Cait grumbled and turned back towards Lily. "Ignore her." Cait got up off the bed and went over to her trunk. "I know just the cure!"

"Firewhisky?" Ellie asked hopefully, tossing the magazine on the floor.

"No." Cait said sending a glare towards Ellie over her shoulder. "Chocolate!" Cait grinned and held up two large bars of Honeyduke's chocolate.

"I still think that if Lily had a little alcohol in her system, she'd feel a lot better." Ellie commented, twirling her hair around her finger.

Cait looked over towards Lily and frowned. She motioned towards Ellie behind her. "She's mental."

Lily laughed, walked up to Cait, and relieved her of one of the chocolate bars. "Thanks!"

Ellie walked up and took the remaining bar. "Thanks, Cait!" She hugged her and went back to her bed.

Cait glared. "Your welcome."

* * *

"How long do you reckon?"

"Hmm…I don't know. He has to leave at some point."

"Smashing! He's getting up."

"Excellent. We're in the clear. Let's go."

Sirius and Remus had been sitting in chairs in front of the fire. Since they'd begun the potion yesterday, they really hadn't found a good time to clue Peter in. James had been helping Peter with his Transfiguration homework, at a small table in the common room. They'd waited over an hour to finally get Peter alone. They'd have to be quick and informative. You never knew when James would pop up.

"Hey, Wormtail!" Sirius and Remus sat down quickly and looked around. They explained their plan to Peter and asked if he would like to be a part of it. He agreed and promised that he wouldn't tell anyone else.

"It should be done in the next 48 hours." Remus muttered quietly. "We'll plant the potion in their goblets at dinner. That way the potion will begin to take effect by morning."

Peter grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me."

* * *

Ellie was desperately trying to reach a book on an upper shelf. She grunted and extended her arm as far as it would go. With a sigh she lowered her arm and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She was about to go for a second attempt when an arm reached over her head and picked up the book she had been trying to reach. She turned around and found herself pinned between a body and a shelf of books. She looked up and saw Sirius thumbing through it lazily.

"I'll just take that." Ellie went to reach for it, but Sirius raised it higher into the air.

"What are you doing, Sirius?"

Sirius smirked. "Stretching."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Can I have the book?" She reached up and swatted at the book, missing it by inches.

"What's the magic word?"

"Please?"

"No, but nice try. Thanks for playing!" Sirius raised his arm a little higher.

"What do I have to do in order to get the book?"

"I want a kiss."

"Excuse me?"

"You know what I mean." Sirius lowered his arm and dangled the book and inch from her head.

"Fine." Ellie reached up and grabbed it, holding onto it with both hands. She began to walk down the isle.

"What about my kiss?" Sirius called out.

Ellie turned around and smiled. "Silly me." With a smirk, she blew him a kiss.

"Cheater." Sirius said grinning.

Ellie winked at him before exiting the row.

Sirius slumped against the shelf and smiled. "I think I'm in love."

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_Please review!_


	4. A Done Deal

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. Don't sue. Honestly.

**A/N:** It's the long awaited update! You can stop threatening me now. On with it!

_>Chapter Four_

* * *

Lily groaned and squinted up at the large object currently resting on her knees. 

"Hiya Lily!" Ellie called cheerfully as she bounced a little. Lily winced.

"Just a little painful."

"Sorry." Ellie readjusted herself and settled for a place at the end of the bed. "So, big day today."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon Lils!" Ellie said, exasperated. "We have a HUGE exam in potions. One that could very well screw all of us over!"

Lily shifted the covers and pulled apart the hangings. "You sound like Sirius more and more every bloody day." She got out of bed and shuffled to her trunk.

Ellie also stood and went to stand behind Lily. "Speaking of Sirius…"

Lily, who had been comparing socks, whipped around. "What?"

"Er…we sort of nearly…almost…not really, if you think about it…but if you're technical, like I know you are…oh bugger! We nearly kissed!"

Lily's frown turned into a smile. "That's fantastic. Really."

Ellie remained frozen in place. "But…you hate Sirius with an undying passion."

"No. I hate James with an undying passion. There's a big difference…" Lily patted Ellie on the shoulder and retreated to the girl's bathroom. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Ellie nodded to an empty room and headed for the stairs.

* * *

Sirius nodded towards the direction of the doorway. "See Remus? There she is!" 

Lily had just entered the Great Hall and taken her place next to Ellie a little ways down the Gryffindor table.

"Do you think we can slip it into her drink without her knowing?" asked Remus as he spooned eggs onto his plate.

"It's worth a try. We should do it now, before James gets down here." Sirius responded quietly. "You distract Lily. Ask her a question about class or something."

"Right. Let's go."

Sirius and Remus rose from the table and walked smoothly down the length of it, to where the girls were sitting. Sirius sat beside Ellie, and Remus sat beside Lily.

"Hey Lily! I've got a question about Charms." Remus said quickly as he looked sideways at Sirius. "Er….I need help on my wand work when it comes to….er…the charm we were working on…"

While Remus was busy trying to distract Lily, Sirius did his best to slip the potion into Lily's goblet. The only way he could do this however, was to grab Ellie's attention. Sirius smirked to himself as a very pleasant idea came to mind. Without warning, he grabbed Ellie's neck with one hand, and forced her lips to come in contact with his. At first she resisted and attempted to pull away, but after a moment she began to relax.

Lily and Remus looked around wildly of course and it wasn't until Remus felt something hit his leg, that he realized Sirius had thrown the potion bottle at him from under the table. Remus ducked down and retrieved the small bottle, finding that it was still intact. He carefully hid it in his hand and accidentially knocked over his fork onto the ground, where it conviently landed under the table.

Remus, whose head had just come up from under the table asked, "Lily, could you grab that? I think it landed over by your feet."

"Sure." Lily ducked down and Remus quickly poured the potion into Lily's goblet of pumpkin juice. She reamerged and handed Remus the fork. "Here you are."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Lily smiled, reached for her goblet, and took a long draft. "Bugger, I'm parched. Do you know the time?"

Remus checked his watch. "Yeah, it's 7:33. We've got plenty of time."

This startled Lily however, and she began to mutter things about "failing", being "unprepared", and "foolish". Lily looked over at Sirius and Ellie, who were still snogging. It appeared to have become more heated. "Ellie?" she asked. Snorting, Lily slapped Ellie on the back of the head. Ellie quickly broke away and began cursing.

"What'd you do that for?" Ellie exclaimed. Next to her, Sirius just smirked.

"We'll be late if we don't get a move on!" Lily chided as she grabbed her bag and rose from the table.

"Lily, we've got plenty of time! It doesn't take 20 minutes to get down to the dungeons!"

"We need to study." Lily said as she stood her ground.

Ellie grunted and reached her bag as well. She smiled down at Sirius. "We'll finish this later, Black." With that she swung her bag onto her shoulder and her and Lily set off across the hall and out into the entrance hall.

"Wow." Sirius said as he ran a hand through his mussed hair.

"You're telling me. We should have just enough to add to James's goblet."

"Speak of the devil…" Sirius muttered as he waved James over. James had just entered the Great Hall.

"Good morning, gits!" James called cheerfully.

"Cheers!" said Sirius jovially. "How about a touch of Firewhiskey?" Sirius brandised the small bottle containting the rest of the love potion. He shook it slightly and grinned.

James squinted at the bottle, frowned, but eventually he nodded his head. Sirius poured a hefty amount into James's goblet and then placed the bottle back into his pocket. Remus looked on with interest. James mock toasted is goblet to thin air, and downed it. He wiped his mouth and grinned as he grabbed some toast and bacon off of a platter.

Sirius smirked. "Cheers, James, cheers."

* * *

"Lily." 

"Lily."

"Lily Evans."

"Lily Evans!"

"LILY EVANS!"

Lily started and quickly lifted her head. She had been sleeping at a table in the Gryffindor common room, surrounded by a large pile of books. She squinted at a frustrated Ellie, who was glaring and frowning. Lily leaned back in her chair and stretched.

"Now that you've decided to exit dreamland," Ellie hissed, "you can help me."

"With what?" Lily asked as she spotted Cait heading toward them.

"Sirius." Ellie whispered wildly. Lily gave her a look.

"Hey!" Cait called as she approached Lily and Ellie. "Nice goin' Ellie."

Ellie blushed.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Cait said with a smile. "It's nice that you and Sirius are finally snogging. The tension was becoming a bit unbarable."

"How did you…?" Lily began but Cait cut her off.

"I heard about it in Herbology. The whole school should know about it by now."

Ellie groaned and all but ran for the stairs leading for the girl's dormitory.

"I thought this is what she wanted? Those two have been flirting for a billion years." said Cait with a shrug.

"I think she's a bit taken aback. Sure she wanted it to happen but now that it has, I think she's kind of confused."

"Well, she'll sort it out. I'm going to meet Owen. I'll see you later." With a flip of her hair, she headed toward the portrait hole and disappeared through it.

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

**AN:** It's a bit on the short side, but it's done. I've got another story in the works, and as soon as I feel happy enough with it, then it will definately be posted. Until then, enjoy this chapter, because I have no idea when you'll see the next one! 

And...review!


	5. A Tiny Problem

**Disclaimer:** Hey! I don't own Harry Potter! Woot!

**A/N:** I'm trying here people. I know it's short. But, I get the chapters out eventually….

_Chapter Five_

* * *

Lily groaned as she woke up, coming to find that she'd fallen asleep on a copy of _Defense For You: An Intricate Guide_. She now had a very stiff neck and a blurred imprint of words on her cheek. Not to mention that sunlight was streaming through the window and the girl's dormitory appeared to be empty. Lily quickly checked her watch, and found that she was in fact 15 minutes late for her first lesson. Silently cursing herself and Ellie for not waking her, Lily rushed around throwing on fresh clothes and running a brush through her hair. She grabbed her bag and flew down the stairs, through the common room and out of the portrait hole. She began to run and quickly found herself in the dungeons, outside of Potions class. Without missing a beat, Lily opened the door and quickly walked to her seat, plopping down next to a very amused Ellie. 

"Ah Miss Evans, you've arrived. Why are you tardy?" Slughorn asked as he looked away from the cauldron he had been peering into.

"Over slept. Sorry sir, it won't happen again." Lily wheezed, as she tried to catch her breath.

"It's alright dear. If you'll just turn to page 389, I'm sure your friend can help you catch up." Slughorn returned back to his cauldron.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Ellie whispered as she continued to cut up her roots.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Lily demanded as she got up from the table and headed for the supply cabinet. But as she was walking along, she couldn't help but feel the intense urge to look over at James Potter. She glanced over and noticed that Slunghorn was immersed in his potion, so Lily took a small detour and stopped right in front of the table James was working at. He looked up and immediately smiled.

"Hello, Lily." James grinned as he abandoned his work and focused on her.

"Hi, James." Lily had the sudden desire to jump across the table, land in James' lap, and then ravish him with her mouth.

Sirius noticed just how much sexual tension was radiating between the two. If he didn't say something to try and distract them, it wasn't going to end well. "Hey, lovebirds, could you quit with the spectacle? I'm trying to work here!"

"Sorry." Lily said quietly, her eyes never leaving James. "I really need to go and collect ingredients now." After another minute she left reluctantly, glancing at James every few minutes. If it wasn't for Ellie coming to Lily's rescue and helping her back to her seat, Lily probably would have jumped on James' back.

Sirius looked back over at Remus, who was sharing a table with Peter, and gave him a big thumbs up. Remus returned the gesture with a huge grin, before turning to Peter and continuing with there conversation.

* * *

After Potions, Sirius and Remus pulled James aside and demanded answers.

"James, what in the good name of Merlin is going on?" Sirius said quietly with a smirk.

"I don't know mate. But whatever it is, I like it. A lot." James' eyes went wide and he smiled broadly. "Ah, Lily Evans."

Remus narrowed his eyes slightly. "What exactly do you like?"

"I like the fact that Lily wants to shag me sensless."

"Whoa. Brakes." Sirius said as suddenly tripped.

"I don't know if I'll be able to help myself either. Its just…wow." James started moving off down the hallway. "I wonder where Lily went?"

Sirius and Remus shared an uneasy look before hurrying after James. Hogwarts didn't need to see a spectacle. But James didn't need to look far for Lily, because Ellie and Cait had her held down further down the corridor. James made a beeline right for Lily. Sirius and Remus arrived moments later and they both grabbed for one of James' arms.

"Hey! What are you doing?" James exclaimed as Sirius and Remus held him firmly.

"Making sure you two don't go at it like rabbits." Remus stated blandly.

"Isn't he funny, Lily?" James asked with a wink.

"Hilarious." breathed Lily.

Ellie gave Remus and Sirius a nasty glare. "Maybe you guys should go down to lunch now."

"Right. Let's go James." Remus and Sirius steered James away from Lily.

"Good day, my sweet!" James called as Lily giggled behind him.

Ellie didn't stop glaring until the boys were well out of sight. "Lily, you really need to tell us what's going on."

"You hate James Potter with a passion, Lils." Cait said as the girls started to take the longer and safer route to lunch.

"What are you guys talking about? I don't hate him." Lily started to hum some sort of happy song.

Ellie mimed vomiting behind Lily's back. Cait laughed.

"Something's not right." Cait frowned. "I don't know what it is, but when I find out, I'm going to kill whoever did it."

It wasn't until dinner that evening, that things really took a turn.

* * *

"What the hell?" Ellie muttered as she stood to get a better look. "There just…I mean…oh sweet mother of God…"

Sirius gulped. "Er…Remus? Are they supposed to be acting like that?"

Remus remained quite. Lily and James were holding hands and whispering.

"I think we should go to the library and have a look at the potion again." Sirius stood.

Remus nodded his head and rose from the table.

"I think I'll go and get Lily." Ellie said with wide eyes as she watched the events unfold. "We don't need to see them shag."

Remus and Sirius just nodded and they both hurried off to the library. Once they were there, they quickly browsed the shelves until they found the book. Sirius ripped it off the shelf and quickly began searching through it, until he came across the spotted and stained page.

Sirius mumbled quietly to himself before going quite.

Remus spoke for the first time. "What? Sirius, what is it?"

"We forgot a step."

"What do you mean?"

"We messed up."

"I've got that bit. But how did we mess up?"

Sirius kept mumbling to himself as he carried the book over to the nearest table and sat down heavily. He scanned the pages slowly, before looking up at Remus with a look of horror.

"Sirius, what is it?"

* * *

**A/N:** AHAHAHA! A nice little review would make me happy! 


	6. A Small Explanation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter for the billionth time. Leave me be already.

**A/N:** Alright! I'm at least getting one chapter out a month! That's got to be good! And I've changed my name. I'm no longer Simply Lovely. That was getting simply boring. You may read now...

**Chapter Six**

* * *

After their impromptu trip to the library, the day seemed to drag on for Remus and Sirius. Lily and James continued to hold hands everywhere they went, and neither of them left the other's sight for more than a few moments at a time. Ellie seemed to sense that something wasn't quite right, and she kept pulling Sirius aside throughout the day and demanding that he give her some answers. After filling Peter in on the little mistake they had made, Peter had made sure that he kept an eye on Lily and James. If they got a little too excited, then Peter was in charge of pulling them apart.

It wasn't until another rousing dinner that evening to really get things rolling.

Sirius, Remus, Ellie, and Peter were all sitting together at the far end of the table. They would occasionally send looks down the table towards Lily and James, who had now found the joy of feeding each other every meal of every day.

"I know something is wrong Sirius, and I don't appreciate this little silent treatment you seem to be giving me." Ellie said quietly as she stabbed at her baked potato.

Sirius just cleared his throat and looked away.

"You are such a git."

Sirius' head whipped around at the comment. "I am not!"

"Yes, you are! Something went wrong with the potion, and we can all obviously see that. The only problem is that you seem to be keeping it from me!"

Sirius opened and closed his mouth.

"Look Ellie, we would tell you what we found out, but Sirius is afraid you would get violent and tamper with his manhood." Remus explained as he took a drink of pumpkin juice.

"You mean kick Sirius in his balls?" Ellie said loudly as she stood from the table and exited the hall.

"Way to go Remus. Now she'll really be barking mad."

"I think we should tell her tonight." Peter said quietly. Remus and Sirius both turned to him.

"He's got a point." Remus said as he stood. "Are you coming Peter?"

"Nah. I'm going to hang around and keep an eye on the lovebirds for awhile."

"C'mon, Sirius." Remus and Sirius made their way out of the hall and up the stairs. They didn't talk most of the way to the Gryffindor common room. Remus finally broke the silence as they approached the Fat Lady.

"I think you should go in there and tell Ellie that we want to explain everything to her tonight. We'll meet in the old Charm's classroom on the fourth floor at midnight." Remus gave the password and shoved Sirius inside. "I've got to go to the library. I'll meet you there at midnight."

Sirius just nodded mutely and continued on into the common room. He spotted Ellie sitting by the fire, starring moodily into it. Sirius approached her quietly and went to stand in front of her chair. She glared and sighed loudly.

"Look, Ellie. Remus, Peter, and I have decided to let you in on what we know. Remus and I will be in the old Charm's classroom at midnight tonight. We'll fill you in then. It's not much, but it's something and seeing as you're Lily's best friend…." He trailed off.

"You should've come to me right away. Good or bad, I'm apart of this now."

"I know. And I'm sorry."

"Good."

"So….want to have a snog?"

"Got to hell."

"Right."

* * *

Ellie tried to hit Sirius, but because of the ropes strapping her to her chair and covering her mouth, she was only able to growl and glare. Sirius just smiled and kept glancing at the door over his shoulder. Remus was sitting at a desk, his face set, surrounded by ancient and worn books.

"Listen Ellie, I know you are really, really, mad at the moment and that's really, really, understandable." Sirius circled around the chair and came to a stop in front of Ellie.

"I'm going to release these binds," Sirius said slowly as he began to back away, "if you attack me, I will stun you."

Ellie continued to glare.

"Right." With a flick of his wand, Sirius had vanished the binds and a very disgruntled Ellie stood from her chair.

Sirius cleared his throat as Ellie started to approach him.

"Er…I know you're mad, but Remus and I are going to figure this all out and everything is going to be fine."

"What do you mean you made a mistake?" Ellie asked as she finally came level to Sirius. "These are two real, live human beings, and you've just messed up their whole freakin' chemical nature! How the hell do you expect me to just be calm about all of this?"

Sirius placed a hand on her shoulder and slowly backed to the door. He skillfully unlocked it and quietly turned the doorknob. He quickly placed a kiss on Ellie's forehead before charging through the door and out of sight. Ellie continued to glare out the door and into the dark corridor, before turning her attention to Remus. She closed the classroom door and went to stand in front of the desk he was working at.

Ellie cleared her throat and crossed her arms. After no response, she began to tap her foot impatiently.

"Remus?" she growled.

"Wassit?" Remus cleared his dry throat and looked up from a page full of ancient symbols.

"Have you found anything even remotely helpful yet?"

"Sort of."

"Since Sirius has no balls, could you please explain this whole mistake to me? I think he was afraid I'd do wand less magic or something if he went into further detail." Ellie pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Remus' desk.

"Well, we noticed that Lily and James had been acting slightly funny."

Ellie snorted. "That's an understatement."

"Ah….yes. Anyway, we went to the library and looked up the potion again. Sirius grabbed the book and started acting kind of funny. He told me he had made a mistake. That we had forgotten a step."

"And?"

"I grabbed the book back from him and began to reread it as well. I found that we had missed a very crucial point to the whole purpose of this potion."

"Did you forget an ingredient of something? Did you let it simmer for to long?"

"No, unfortunately not. It seems that Sirius didn't read the fine print underneath the title of the potion."

"Why not? That stupid foul…" Remus cut her off.

"He couldn't have read it anyway. It was in Latin."

Ellie closed her mouth. "Oh. Well, then."

"Yeah."

"So, do you know what it says?"

"I've only been able to pick up a few of the words." Remus said as he began to shuffle through a stack of parchment. "Aha. Here it is."

Ellie peered down at Remus' scribbled handwriting and read the seven scrawled words aloud. "_Will only_, _marriage_, _death_, _love_, _the_, and _end_."

Remus looked at her with wide eyes and carefully took the paper back.

"Well, that sounds awfully sappy and romantic." Ellie said sarcastically.

"I know these words aren't the most encouraging, but they have something to do with Lily and James. That's why their feelings are so intense. Maybe they never needed any of this potion in the first place."

"Maybe." Ellie stood and made her way to the door. "Will you be able to get back alright?"

"Yeah. Just don't kill Sirius if you see him. He already feels bad enough."

"Good night, Remus."

"Night, Ellie."

* * *

**A/N:** Please review! You know you want to! I promise more Lily and James in the next chapter...


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